SoapZone Community Message Board

pretty slimy and it's still frosting my behind (pun intended). I'll do a tl; dr at the end...

Unless you've been living under a (hopefully warm) rock, you probably know there was a major weather event last Sunday and Monday. Here in my neck of the woods, the snow started Saturday night and pretty much didn't stop until early Monday evening. Our governor declared a state of emergency even before the snow really ramped up and the county my store is in--Cuyahoga--issued a level 2 snow emergency, which basically urges non-essential drivers to stay off the roads. For the record, a level 1 emergency means "exercise caution" and level 3 means "some/all roads are essentially closed and if you're non-essential personnel and we catch you out driving in the snow, you could be issued a ticket". I was exceedingly grateful to already have Sunday and Monday off.

The company recently rearranged the districts and the woman who was our DM had her position eliminated. Our new DM is based in Pennsylvania but she already seems more on top of things than the previous DM. She sent out an email saying ALL the stores in her district were to be closed Sunday and Monday. All. Of. Them. The email went out to everyone but in my store, only SM saw it, and she deleted it before any of us could see it. Apparently she has the ability, and the will, to tamper with our emails from the company...but that's a rant for another day.

SM had our store open both Sunday and Monday. On Sundays, we're only open noon-5, and she always works the entire shift, along with one other person. Mondays are less set; usually SM works all day Monday and has one PT associate come in for the morning/early afternoon shift and one for the late afternoon/evening shift but sometimes she goes home around 3-4 and has one of us keyholders work that evening. I was working Saturday night along with "S", who lives within easy walking distance of our store. SM hadn't left yet (she's ALWAYS staying late and then complaining about how she's always working...but that's a rant for another day) and was furious because "B" (Big Grandma Energy), who was supposed to work Sunday with SM, called and said nope, not happening. B lives in one of the areas that tends to get more snow than the rest of us so it was totally understandable why she didn't want to come in. S volunteered to come in--she actually enjoys walking in the cold weather--but SM played the martyr and said no, she'd just work by herself on Sunday. Which she did...we had ONE over-the-phone sale and that was it.

On Monday, my co-worker "H", who lives one town over from the store, managed to struggle her way in for the morning shift with SM but 10 minutes before she was set to come in to relieve H, "L" called off, blaming the weather. SM was FURIOUS. She wound up working by herself for the rest of Monday...we had zero sales and only one customer in the store the entire day. Incidentally, it's against company policy for anyone to work solo at one of our stores...but that's a rant for another day. The next day, while it was still snowing but not nearly as badly, I made the drive in and stayed the entire day because "M" (85 year old firecracker) hurt her knee while on her treadmill. All I heard the first hour I was there was how, uh, peeved SM was at B and L for not driving on nearly non-existent roads to come in and do nothing for their entire shift and how M has no business working out at her age and how DARE she injure herself (as if she did it on purpose just to spite SM). And then B came in and told our SM that the SM from a nearby store, which is down a keyholder because the keyholder is in the hospital (no idea why, none of my business), had texted her to ask if B could work Thursday night at her store. Usually on Thursdays, it's B and me from open to close. B immediately suggested she could go to the other store and L, who had missed her shift Monday due to the weather and could use the money, could come in. And that's what did happen today but not before SM gave B an earful about how "our store comes first!" and "you like them better than us!" and other schoolgirl, uh, doo-doo. I was so proud of B...she rarely raises her voice but she shut SM right down, reminding her that we ALL need more money, especially since hours have been cut slightly due to the post Christmas slump and nobody's getting a raise. Oohhhh, the drama!

tl; dr - during the worst two days of this week's storm, SM opened our store after our DM had announced all of our stores were closed and then had the nerve to yell at the two ladies who were smart and didn't come in for their shifts those two days. Also, my workplace is all drama these days.